A 3-month-old girl was taken against doctor's orders this afternoon from Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township, authorities said.

The premature infant was returned to the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit less than an hour after being removed by her parents, according to Salisbury Township police and Lehigh Valley Health Network officials.

Police said the child was unharmed.

"The parents were visiting their child when staff observed them attempting to remove her from the unit," according to a network statement.

Hospital security and local police were alerted, officials said, prompting Lehigh County emergency dispatchers to broadcast a description of the parents and their vehicle. Allentown police stopped the parents at Seventh and Hamilton streets and recovered the infant, who was taken back to the hospital via ambulance, city police Capt. Glenn Dorney said.

Dorney referred questions about the incident to Salisbury police, who issued a news release on the incident but did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

A staffer at the office of District Judge Karen Devine said police decided not to press charges because the parents took the child.

The release says police interviewed "the involved persons" and released them a short time later. Police said Lehigh County Children and Youth is conducting an investigation.

According to the network statement, "Lehigh Valley Health Network has policies and protocols in place to protect all of our patients, their families, visitors and our staff. Staff is trained for scenarios just like this and followed that training in responding to and attempting to safely resolve this incident."